ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopians on Friday welcomed what many people around the world might like to see: the beginning of a new year.Following a calendar seven years behind the Gregorian one used by much of the world, Ethiopians marked the beginning of 2013.“The 2012 Ethiopian calendar is a year where we went through a lot.
There was a big punishment as a result of (God’s) wrath,” said Emkulu Yiheyis, an Ethiopian Orthodox priest. “But it was not as big as we thought it would be, because of God’s will it was easier, and we are here now. "We were largely protected from going through the horror we saw elsewhere.”Coronavirus cases only in recent weeks have begun to rise rapidly in Africa’s second most populous country.